David Ben-Gurion

September 21, 2023, 9:33 pm

Court orders release of suspect in torching of Ben Gurion statue to house arrest

Tel Aviv judge gives police 24 hours to appeal, criticizes their handling of probe into incident, says they were influenced by media attention

By ToI Staff

September 16, 2023, 11:57 am

Iconic Ben-Gurion headstand statue on Tel Aviv beach badly burned in attack

Homeless man arrested; security increased at first PM’s home, which laments ‘increasing vitriol’ toward Israel’s founders days after gov’t lawyer rapped Declaration of Independence

By ToI Staff

Journalist Oren Kessler, author of 'Palestine 1936.' (Hadas Parush)

August 18, 2023, 7:21 am

What Matters Now to author Oren Kessler: 1936 Palestine’s missed peace deal

In ‘Palestine 1936,’ Kessler delves into dusty archives to bring to life the overlooked saga of the 3-year Arab Revolt that arguably forms the roots of today’s Middle East conflict

By Amanda Borschel-Dan

View of the David Ben-Gurion walking trail, Sde Boker, February 2023. (Courtesy/Dead Sea Preservation Government Company)

March 11, 2023, 6:45 am

New desert promenade will take visitors on Ben-Gurion’s favorite Negev walk

Sde Boker, where the first prime minister lived after retiring, gets an upgrade that aims to draw tourists while keeping their footprint small

By Danielle Nagler

Israelis protest against the Israeli government, at Habima Square in Tel Aviv, on January 7, 2023. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

January 11, 2023, 1:44 pm

Battle over High Court exposes frailty of Israel’s piecemeal system of government

The center-left’s fears are reasonable, the right’s arguments authentic; both sides should get past the current shrill debate and restructure a broken system of checks and balances

By Haviv Rettig Gur

Argentinian poet Jorge Luis Borges holds a press conference while in Madrid, Spain, in 1963. (Getty Images via JTA)

November 11, 2022, 12:38 am

Renowned author’s passion for Israel, Judaism showcased in Buenos Aires

Jorge Luis Borges exhibit in Argentina National Library, co-organized by local Israeli embassy, set to feature events discussing Jewish themes in non-Jewish author’s work

By Juan Melamed

A US Ford 'Liberator' shown over Kiel, Germany, January 4, 1944. On July 10, 1944, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported on an appeal by Auschwitz escapees for the Allies to bomb the death camp. (United States Army Air Forces/Design by Mollie Suss)

September 18, 2022, 3:04 pm

Ken Burns’ Holocaust documentary may be hard on America, but not hard enough

If the film is right and the US cared about the Jews’ plight during the war, then why did it oppose bombing the tracks and bridges that would have saved Jews?

By Rafael Medoff and Monty Penkower

Former IDF chiefs of staff (from L) Ehud Barak, Gabi Ashkenazi, Benny Gantz, Moshe Ya'alon and Gadi Eisenkot speak in an interview with Channel 12 that aired on August 26, 2022. (Screenshot)

August 27, 2022, 10:30 am

Ex-IDF chiefs: Lack of internal solidarity a bigger threat to Israel than Iran nukes

In conversation with Channel 12, five former military heads discuss their efforts over past three decades to foil Tehran’s atomic ambitions and their concerns for Israel’s future

By ToI Staff

July 9, 2022, 12:28 pm

‘No confidence I’m fulfilling my roles’: Archival trove reveals Ben-Gurion anxieties

Founding-PM’s diaries, in which he recorded everything he did — from watching theater to resigning — to be exhibited at Sde Boker, along with rest of ‘dream come true’ archive

By ToI Staff

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett at the state memorial ceremony for former prime minister David Ben-Gurion, in Sde Boker, November 10, 2021 (Haim Zach/GPO)

November 10, 2021, 2:15 pm

PM calls for unity instead of ‘arguments just for the sake of arguments’

At Ben-Gurion memorial event, Bennett says attacks on coalition are assault on Israeli ‘togetherness’; Herzog: Lawmakers, officials have a duty to strengthen statehood

By ToI Staff

Former prime minister David Ben Gurion, left, speaks as his wife, Paula, right, looks on during a press conference at the Plaza Hotel in New York on March 3, 1967. (AP/John Duricka)

July 16, 2021, 8:22 am

In 1954, Israel’s 1st PM apologized to salesman for not paying for eggs

Daughter-in-law of Zvi Havivi finds letter from David Ben-Gurion expressing wife’s remorse, along with more than 7 liras sent 5 months late

By ToI Staff

David Ben Gurion signs Israel's Declaration of Independence on November 29, 1947. (Hans Pinn/GPO)

June 20, 2021, 1:31 am

Did Ben-Gurion use this pen to sign Declaration of Independence?

Descendant of a signatory to the historical document is attempting to sell the item for $500,000, but his claims are contested by experts

By ToI Staff

Former prime minister David Ben-Gurion's grandson denounces Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a protest at Sde Boker, where an annual memorial event for Ben-Gurion was held, November 22, 2020. (Screenshot/Twitter)

November 22, 2020, 5:43 pm

Ben-Gurion’s grandson at memorial event: ‘F**k Netanyahu, long live Israel’

Over 200 protesters at Sde Boker, home to Israel’s first PM, call for Netanyahu’s resignation as he gives speech

By ToI Staff

Adolf Eichmann is seen standing in his bullet proof glass box as the charges against him are read during judical proceedings in the Beit Ha'Am building in Jerusalem, April 12, 1961. (AP Photo/Str)

May 8, 2020, 10:45 am

History in the making: The Mossad mission to capture Adolf Eichmann

How Israel’s spy agency laid its hands on one of Nazi Germany’s most notorious war criminals and brought him to trial in Jerusalem

By Karinne Delorme

Illustrative; Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, Southern Front Commander Yigal Allon (to his right) and Yitzhak Rabin (between them) pictured on the southern front during the 1948 War of Independence. (IDF / Wikipedia)

April 27, 2020, 2:34 pm

Meanwhile, in other news, Israel’s Labor Party is finished

The party of Ben-Gurion, Eshkol, Meir and Rabin led Israel for decades. Now it has fallen so low, become so discredited and irrelevant, that even its demise barely makes a headline

By David Horovitz